Acer’s Chromebook 13 adds a Tegra K1 chip and optional 1080p display

Acer's first ARM Chromebook starts at $280 (or $300 for the one you want).

Acer's contributions to the Chromebook ecosystem have so far been mostly inexpensive Intel-based systems, things like the Acer C720 from late last year. These systems are the archetypal Chromebooks—11.6-inch screens with 1366×768 resolutions, 2GB or 4GB of RAM, cheap Intel Celeron CPUs (though a Core i3 model surfaced more recently), and relatively light price tags.

Today Acer announced a different kind of entry to the field: its fanless Chromebook 13 is a larger model with a 13.3-inch screen that comes in 1366×768 and 1080p flavors that starts at $279.99 and uses Nvidia's Tegra K1 SoC instead of an Intel chip. The Nvidia Tegra K1 Acer is using the 32-bit version, which uses four 2.3GHz ARM Cortex A15 CPU cores and an Nvidia GPU that uses the same Kepler architecture as many GeForce GT 600- and 700-series GPUs. The new Chromebook's closest competition is probably Samsung's Chromebook 2, which uses an Exynos 5 Octa processor in the same general performance bracket.

Acer has also added 2GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, and two-stream 802.11ac Wi-Fi (which should provide maximum theoretical transfer speeds of 867Mbps), and the company promises 13 hours of battery life in the 1366×768 version and 11 hours in the 1080p version. The laptop weighs 3.31 pounds, average for a 13-inch notebook, and Acer says it's 0.71 inches thick. The 1080p version of the Chromebook 13 is $299.99, and an upgraded version with 4GB of RAM and a 32GB SSD will run you $379.99. The $300 1080p model is currently available for pre-order at Best Buy while the other two models are available for pre-order from Amazon.

Past ARM Chromebooks like the HP Chromebook 11 have suffered because they've got so much less CPU power than Intel-based systems. Chrome OS doesn't need huge quad-core workstation CPUs to run well, but you still notice a weak CPU or a lack of RAM just as you will on any other computer. Compared to the Samsung Exynos chips used in older ARM Chromebooks, the Tegra K1 includes a beefier GPU, two extra Cortex A15 CPU cores, and a faster CPU clock speed—hopefully all of those additions can help Acer's ARM Chromebook feel faster than some of the other ones we've encountered.

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Andrew Cunningham
Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue. Twitter@AndrewWrites